


Who lives? Who dies? Who tells your story?

by Spouseofshadows



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Albus Dumbledore Bashing, Book 4: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Book 5: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Child Abuse, Draco Malfoy & Harry Potter Friendship, Established Sirius Black/Remus Lupin, F/F, F/M, Gay, Good Draco Malfoy, Gryffindor Draco Malfoy, Harry Potter is the Heir to the House of Potter, M/M, Nonbinary Character, Nonbinary Ginny Weasley, Other, Pansexual Luna Lovegood, Past Child Abuse, Ron Weasley is a Little Shit, Severus Snape Bashing, Sirius Black is Lord Black, Slow Burn, Trans Luna Lovegood
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-18
Updated: 2021-02-22
Packaged: 2021-03-13 23:29:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29534085
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spouseofshadows/pseuds/Spouseofshadows
Summary: They expected him to be a perfect heir to the noble family. He wasn't. They expected him to be in Slytherin. He was sorted into Gryffindor. They expected him to bring honour to their family's name. He could do that. Just not in the way they expected him to do. Wolfstar, Drarry in the future. Not for Snape's fans. Or Dumbledore.
Relationships: Dean Thomas/Charlie Weasley, Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter, Hermione Granger/Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood & Ginny Weasley, Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Comments: 1
Kudos: 45





	1. Chapter 1

Magic. When he was a little boy, he thought that was all that matter. Why should you discriminate someone, if they had magic? That was the question he asked his father only once. He was five years old and earlier that day his mother explained to him differences between purebloods and muggleborns, or mudbloods, like she called them. His father was back at home, ranting about muggleborn witch who got a good job at ministry. How she had stolen that job from pureblood wizard. How she wasn't worthy because of her blood. But the boy didn't understand. They all had magic, why their blood should have mattered?

He would never forget his father's eyes after he asked that question. Full of rage and hate. What happened next was quick. Slap. Pain. Pain. Pain. His mother's terrified face. Pain. Screams. The boy cried, while his father and mother were shouting at him. Pain.

'How dare you?!' screamed his father.

'I raised you better than that!' added his mother.

'TO DEFEND MUDBLOODS!'

'No son of mine will ask questions like that!'

'DON'T YOU EVER DARE AGAIN!'

The boy didn't understand what he did wrong or why his parents were so angry, but he wasn't stupid. He realised that consequences of asking wouldn't be good for him. So he never asked again.

He listened to his parents, complaining and hating muggles and muggleborns. And while he thought that wizards were better than muggles, he wouldn't understand what was wrong with those who weren't pureblood, but he never dared ask again. He was a perfect pureblood son. A perfect heir to the noble house, always obeying his parents' will. Repeating after slurs his father used at home, while being polite during social events. He would do everything to make his parents proud. And to never feel that pain again.

Years have passed, and the boy was ready to go to Hogwarts and learn real magic. He was expected to go Slytherin, like everyone in his family. He was expected to honour his house, to have always perfect grades and be polite for teachers. He was expected to only mix with other purebloods, to be a little Slytherin prince. After all, his family's name was important in wizarding world.

His father explained him everything. The boy would finish Hogwarts with outstanding grades, start a career in the Ministry of Magic, and one day become a Minister of Magic. He would show all those mudbloods and half bloods their place in the society. Under purebloods. His his father wanted that, the boy had to obey: That's how things had to be. He accepted that that day. So when his name was called by professor McGonagall, he went proudly. He was not afraid. He knew he would be a Slytherin, as his father said. He had only one thought in his mind: put me in Slytherin. But then the hat asked: Are you sure about that? You're not like your father.

The boy wanted to argue. He had to obey his father's wishes. He had to be sorted to Slytherin, but there was still a small part of him who wanted to know. Why should you discriminate someone, if they had magic? Hat spoke to him again: You can achieve greatness and freedom you want… you only have to let me sort you where you truly belong…

Greatness? It would make his parents proud. Freedom? He dreamt about it for years…

'Do your job,' he whispered to the hat who shouted few seconds later:

'GRYFFINDOR!'

That the moment Draco Malfoy knew his parents would kill him. That was also the beginning of his journey for freedom.


	2. Year 1, part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Your mother and I could not be more disappointed in you. We do not wish to see you during Yule break. You will stay at Hogwarts and think about your behaviour and about what you have done.

Expectations. That’s all he knew his whole life. He was expected to be a perfect son, to attend balls and social events, to represent his family name with pride. He was expected to be cunning and loyal, to follow his father’s steps. He was expected to act in public, to hate those who his parents hated. He was not allowed to mix with lower classes. After all, he was Malfoy. That should have explained everything. Generations of Slytherins. Yes, there were few Ravenclaws in his bloodline, but they didn’t matter. Ravenclaw wouldn’t be so bad, after all. The house of wisdom and knowledge. It would disappoint his parents that he didn’t end in Slytherin, however, he knew they would be able to accept him as Ravenclaw, but… He wasn’t Ravenclaw, he was Gryffindor. And that changed everything.

Draco still remembered his first morning in Gryffindor Tower. After a sleepless night, he was too terrified to even try to go to sleep; he followed his housemates to the Great Hall. They didn’t speak to him, and he wasn’t sure if that was something good or bad. Draco already knew that at least one of them was hating him, Ronald Weasley made it clear before they went to sleep.

‘I don’t know what kind of sick game you’re playing, Malfoy, but stay away from us!’ said redhead before adding directly to Harry Potter, ‘Be careful, Harry, he might try to murder you in your sleep.’

Potter looked unsure, but he said nothing. Other boys were quiet, Neville Longbottom was looking at Draco with fear. Draco was feeling sick. He never spoke to any of those boys before, and they already hated him. The worst was before him.

He was sitting at the Gryffindor table, trying to eat anything, when a big, black owl landed in front of him. He knew that owl as it belonged to his father. Lucius Malfoy knew about his son’s sorting and wasn’t happy about it. Years later, Draco still remembered every single word from that letter, and how much pain they brought him. Especially the end of the letter. After a few long paragraphs about how disrespectful Draco was by being sorted into Gryffindor, his father wrote: ‘ _ Your mother and I could not be more disappointed in you. We do not wish to see you during Yule break. You will stay at Hogwarts and think about your behaviour and about what you have done. Do not contact us until we ask you. We do not wish to listen to any of your poor excuses. _ ’

For the first few months, Draco was alone. His housemates weren’t speaking to him, his old friends hated him, and professors didn’t care. Nobody cared about his feelings or needs. He was spending most of his time in the library, separated from the world. He knew what was going on, but he simply didn’t care. A small part of him still believed that not everything was lost, that his parents could still love him. After all, he was their child, their only child, right?

That hope died shortly before Yule. The day most of the students went back to their homes for a break, he got another letter from his parents. At first, he thought that maybe they forgave him. That everything was going back to normal. He was wrong. They wrote to inform him that he was going to be replaced. ‘ _ Your mother is pregnant and as she needs to rest a lot, we expect you to stay at Hogwarts during the spring break. The child will be born during your summer break, which you will spend at our summer house in the country, supervised by house-elves. I am warning you right now, that you will be expected to spend your whole summer break studying. You will not attend any social events. You are also expected to have full marks on all your exams, otherwise you will be punished.’ _

Draco didn’t know how to react. He was staring at the letter, trying to understand what he just read. He couldn’t believe in his father’s words. His parents wanted to replace him. If the child was a boy and would survive to his second birthdays, Draco would be disowned. His parents didn’t want him anymore. They didn’t love him anymore. Not that he knew if they loved him at all in the first place. They might have loved the image of a perfect son they wanted Draco to be… Tears fell down his cheeks. 

Draco didn’t know how long he was sitting on the floor of the first year dorm, crying for everything he lost. He felt empty, lost in his thoughts. He didn’t even notice that Harry Potter was standing in front of him, until the green-eyed boy asked,

‘Draco, are you alright?’

Draco flinched and looked at the other boy. Before Halloween, he would have told Potter to piss off. After all, Potter’s best friend was Weasley, who hated Draco more than anyone else. However, Potter and Weasley weren’t friends anymore. Because of Ronald, who insulted Granger, Harry risked his life and got injured while trying to save the girl from a troll. After Madam Pomfrey released him from the hospital wing, he had a serious quarrel with the redhead and they didn’t talk since then. Potter became close friends with Hermione, who just left for Yule's break. 

Potter said nothing bad to Draco, never insulted him, what’s more, he tried to defend young Malfoy from Weasley a few times. So, having nothing to lose, Draco said:

‘No. No, I’m not.’


	3. Year 1, part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They were talking for hours, sharing their experiences, comforting each other. Two children from extremely different households, but in the same situation, with no family who would love them no matter what. Two children who were failed by adults. 

They were sitting on the floor for hours. At first, in silence. Draco didn’t know what to say or what to think. Potter seemed to be worried about him, but why? Why would anyone be worried about him? Why did he ask if Draco was alright? It didn’t make any sense. 

‘My… my parents…’ Draco whispered finally, ‘they want to replace me…’

Potter blinked and looked at him, even more worried than before. 

‘Replace you? But… Why?’

_ One. Two. Three. Breath in. Breath out. Repeat. One. Two. Three. In. Out. Don’t cry, Draco. Boys are not allowed to cry.  _

‘Because... I'm bringing shame to my family name,’ Draco said, closing his eyes.  _ Don’t cry. Don’t cry.  _

Silence. Malfoy could hear his own heartbeat. His whole body was shaking. He expected Potter to laugh, to realise that he shouldn't mix with Draco, to push him away. But nothing like that happened.

Draco felt hands on his arms. He looked into Potter's eyes and saw something he would never expect. Understanding. They were staring at each other, when the black-haired boy suddenly said:

'I don't know what you're feeling right now… But... I can imagine. I know a lot about being family's disappointment.' The last part was almost whispered. 

It didn’t make any sense. Didn't Potter grow up in a loving wizard family? That's what the Daily Prophet said. The boy who lived was living with a light family, who loved him and spoiled him. That was a well-known fact. Draco heard his father complaining about it a lot. 

‘What do you mean?’ Draco asked. 

And for unknown reasons, for both of them, Potter told him everything. About living with the Dursleys, who seemed to be an incarnation of everything Lucius Malfoy told Draco about muggles, about the cupboard under the stairs. About not knowing his name before school, about incident magic and consequences. About being starved, beaten and used as house-elf. About how he was not allowed to have better grades than Dudley, his cousin who was as dumb as a troll. And how he was afraid of getting good grades at Hogwarts. About loneliness, about hating himself for his magic. About knowing nothing about his parents, except their names and that he looked like his father in all but eyes. About his short friendship with Ron, and how he hated bullies. That was the reason why they weren’t friends anymore. Harry told Draco about Hermione, how brilliant she was, and how she forgave him for not stopping Weasley, how they quickly became good friends, and that he already missed her. 

At first, again, Draco didn’t know what to say. He was shocked, but who wouldn’t be? That’s not what he expected from the boy who lived. That’s not what they were told by Dumbledore. That’s not what the public would ever see, while looking at the boy who was sitting in front of him. But… after all, most of the public would never believe that Lucius Malfoy would use cruciatus curse as a form of punishment for his firstborn… but Draco knew it was true. He experienced that on his own skin. 

Maybe it was caused by shock, maybe by the need of proving that he understood, Draco started talking about his own life. About expectations, about being raised to believe that muggleborn were some sort of subhumans, that their lives didn’t matter. About the question, and the first time his father used cruciatus curse on him (he had to explain to Harry what cruciatus curse was). About his mother’s screams every time he did something wrong. About being raised to be a perfect heir, a perfect Slytherin. He told Harry about his friends from childhood, how they suddenly started to hate him, about doubts that they ever truly liked him. About the first letter from his parents, and how they just informed him that he would be replaced. About their expectations and fear what would happen during summer break. 

Draco didn’t know when he started crying, or when Harry hugged him. They were talking for hours, sharing their experiences, comforting each other. Two children from extremely different households, but in the same situation, with no family who would love them no matter what. Two children who were failed by adults. 

Later that night, Draco was lying in his bed, thinking about what happened. He didn’t know why he opened up for Harry, or why Harry decided to tell him about his life. However, he knew one thing. There were some things you can’t share without ending up as close friends, and telling each other about their lives and biggest fears, was one of those things. Since that day, Draco and Harry have become almost inseparable. They promised to always be there for each other. For a few months, young Malfoy forgot about his fears. He finally had someone who truly cared about him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. I'm aware that chapters are pretty short. However, unfortunately I'm simply unable to write them longer, without losing motivation. Right now it’s easier for me to write short chapter and publish them, then to write longer pieces of text. First 3 years at Hogwarts are supposed to be 3 chapters. Once I’ll finish that story, I’ll edit it, so everything will be like I wanted it to be. 
> 
> 2\. I’m not a native English speaker. I’m trying my best in catching mistakes and grammar errors, but my dyslexia is not helping. Right now I don’t have a beta, so I can only say, I’m sorry for any mistakes. 
> 
> 3\. Constructive criticism is always welcome. Please, let me know what do you think.


End file.
